Double Standards
by writerspassion18
Summary: What happens when you ask your Gryffindor mother and Slytherin father for advice? As little Josephine Malfoy found out, thrown food and detention so it seemed...


Josephine Malfoy was ten years old and was turning eleven once the summer hit. Her parents were looking forward to her birthday very much, because they knew that among the endless amounts of presents she would receive, little Josephine would also get her Hogwarts letter. Her father was the one looking forward to the pending Hogwarts letter more than she (or her mother for that matter). It had nothing to do with the fact that he couldn't wait for his princess to being her magical studies. It was actually because, according to him, if he had to spend another year sending his daughter to a muggle school, "I'll roll over and die." Her mother had scolded him plenty of times, asking, "What you have preferred? For her to spend all of these years an ignorant girl of muggle culture and basic learning necessities..?" Luckily for him, she hadn't heard him say yes.

Small arguments always arose out of Josephine's parents when it concerned her well-being (or anything for that matter). It used to be nerve-wracking at five and six years old, but now that she was ten, almost eleven, did she finally realize and understand why her parents had a row when she was the subject: they came from two completely different worlds.

Her mother was a Gryffindor while at Hogwarts, and her friends were Harry Potter and Ron Weasley –Josephine's favorite uncles. Her mother was set about doing the right thing and being honest at all times. She was always willing to help someone in their time of need and put others first. Her father on the other hand was a Slytherin, and his friends were Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson –her other favorite uncle and amusing aunt. Her father was honest for the most part, but if he could figure out a way to get around the system, he'd do it. He was an all for one, one for _one_ type of person, unless of course it concerned his child or wife. They were the only people he'd put away his selfishness for.

Because of this clashing, Josephine's house was a constant battlefield. They fought over just about everything: government, clothes, where to go for vacations, which family members they were visiting, even table settings at dinner. Josephine once went up to her father and asked why they argued so much. He looked at her with a small smile playing on his lips and said, "We like to fight."

But at ten, when the rows were annoying, Josephine never really brought up her problems to her parents because all they'd do was give her conflicting advice. Unfortunately, however, there was one issue at school that had to get attended to immediately, and it had a name: Mickey Fisher. Mickey Fisher was a mean little boy who made fun of Josephine terribly on a daily basis. He talked about her hair, her face, her clothes…all things which other people complimented on. He seemed to be the only one who hated her, and Josephine had completely had enough.

So, one day after she came home from school, Josephine had made up her mind to say something about her little problem, but _who_ she'd tell it to, she wasn't sure. She decided to flip a coin. Heads, her mother and tails her father. After tossing it in the air, and spending a minute or two looking for it, she saw that it was heads. Josephine pocketed the coin and went upstairs where her mother usually was when she came home: in her bedroom reading.

"Hi, mum,"

"Oh, Liz, you made it home before I could meet you at the door." Hermione said with a smile as she gave her daughter a hug. She called her "Liz" because her middle name was Elizabeth. "Did you enjoy school today?"

"Um…" Josephine replied hesitantly. This was enough for her mother to know that the answer was no. "Mum, there's this boy in my class named Mickey Fisher who keeps making fun of me. I don't know what to do."

"You haven't told your father about this, have you?"

Josephine immediately shook her head no. Her mother always asked this question when an issue came up, because if her darling daughter had said yes, she'd have to rectify everything that her father had told her.

"Well, have you _talked_ to this Mickey Fisher?"

"_Talked to him_?" Josephine repeated. Now she was wondering if she had gone to the wrong parent. "Mum, he _hates_ me. Talking to him isn't going to help."

"Well, I think it will." Hermione said confidently. "Trust me, and try it out tomorrow."

"Okay, I guess."

Josephine went to school the next day with her mother's advice on her mind. _Talk to him…_ Her mother had said, and now she was wondering how on earth she was going to do that. It wasn't like she could just walk up to Mickey Fisher and say, "Hey, stop picking on me. It isn't a nice thing to do." That'd probably just cause him to laugh at her and taunt her further. But as she sat with her classmates during lunch, Josephine had had enough. Mickey Fisher was talking about her hair _again_.

"Your hair is so yellow." He was saying. "If you were standing in the way of the sun, it'd completely blend in and then everyone would think you were bald."

"For Merlin's sake,-"

"_Merlin.._? Who's Merlin?"

Josephine felt her cheeks redden. She kept forgetting that she wasn't dealing with wizards and that they didn't know who Merlin was. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"Mickey, can you just stop picking on me? I don't know why you hate me-"

"I hate you because your hair looks like my creamed corn." Mickey Fisher picked up his small cupful of creamed corn and chucked it on her, getting the corn on her hair and part of her shirt. "See? Just like it."

Josephine felt fresh tears come to her eyes and she rushed out of the cafeteria despite the pleas from her friends to sit back down and that they'd get the corn out. She had never been so embarrassed in her life, and it was all because of her mother's stupid advice. Talking? She had wanted her to _talk_ to that horrible boy? Josephine had had a twenty percent chance that that was going to work, and the eighty percent had worked against her just like she thought it would. The corn that had gotten thrown on her she managed to get out of her hair and cleaned off her shirt, but that didn't stop the subtle smell and random kids kept calling her Corn-Head –thanks to Mickey Fisher for starting the nickname.

When Josephine got home, she went straight in search of her father. After going through several rooms in the large house she found him in the study with his feet up on the corner of the desk with a book on his lap.

"Dad,"

"Oh, hey, Liz," Draco said as he took his feet down and turned to face his daughter. He looked at her curiously for a moment and then asked, "What's that smell?"

"…It's corn,"

"Corn..?" He repeated. "Should I ask why my daughter smells like corn?"

"It's Mickey Fisher's fault." Josephine complained. "He keeps picking on me at school and today he threw corn on me because it matched the color of my hair. I had gone to mum about what to do with him yesterday, but all she did was say that I should talk to him, and that's what I did, but-"

"Wait, wait, you went to your mother?" Draco asked astounded. "Well, of course you got nowhere with the kid. You went to your mother. What have I told you about your mum when it comes to getting revenge?"

"Mum's a Gryffindor and she has too kind of a heart to do to people what should be done."

"Exactly… I love your mother to death, but she has no idea what she's doing when it comes to getting back at someone. Tell me, does this…Mickey Fisher, is it? Does he have any allergies?"

"Allergies..?" Josephine thought hard for a moment and then said, "Um, well, I think he's allergic to cinnamon. He had some on his toast once and he got hives."

"Perfect," Draco said with a smile. "A little cinnamon over his lunch tomorrow should set him straight."

"But dad, that's…a little harsh, don't you think?"

"If he was a wizard I would've told you to do something else. Now _that_ would've been harsh."

The next day at school during lunch Josephine was nervous. She had the shaker in her hand that had cinnamon in it hidden under the table. Mickey Fisher was sitting toward the end of the table talking with his friends. Lunch was half-over and Josephine had yet to strike up the nerve to pour the cinnamon over his food when he wasn't looking. She was thinking that it wasn't a good idea. He was allergic to it for the love of Merlin. But then again it was only hives…

Josephine shook her head and got up from her seat to put the cinnamon shaker back to the condiments counter. On her way there however, Mickey Fisher saw her coming and brought a huge smile to his face.

"Well, well, well, I see you got the corn out of your hair." He grinned. "Want some mustard instead? It'll match you perfectly."

She soon felt her cheeks flush and saw that Mickey Fisher and all his friends were laughing. While they were all preoccupied with their sudden joy, Josephine passed Mickey Fisher's food tray and tilted the cinnamon shaker. A good amount of cinnamon felt onto his food and Josephine kept up her pace and put the shaker back at the condiments counter. While there she picked up a napkin or two so as not to arouse suspicions for her true reasoning of getting up. _Oh, dad would be so proud…_ She contemplated. If there was one thing that her father taught her it was that a Malfoy should always plan ahead. It was always necessary to know the next move, and Josephine had just made hers.

As she passed behind Mickey Fisher, she saw that he was eating the food that she had sprinkled the cinnamon on. Josephine smiled, and as her fifth grade class lined up to head back to class she heard one of his friends ask, "Why are you scratching so much?" Josephine nearly laughed aloud.

While sitting in the classroom Mickey Fisher was scratching relentlessly, and then he began moaning in the middle of the teacher's lesson.

"Mickey, what's wrong?" The teacher asked. He looked up at her with worried eyes.

"I think I've got hives."

"And they match beautifully with your complexion." Josephine muttered gleefully under her breath.

"Well, how did that happen? You didn't have any cinnamon at lunch did you, Mickey?"

"Josephine did it!" one of Mickey's friends yelled. "I didn't want to say anything, but I think I saw her pour something in his food. It was probably cinnamon!"

"Yeah, she hates me." Mickey said as he continued to scratch. "She probably did do that to me."

"What? Josephine, this can't be true, can it?"

"No!" Josephine shouted. He couldn't have seen. He was just guessing! "No, I didn't do that! I swear!" She repeated, but she could see the look on her teacher's face that said _I'm not sure I believe you_. But Josephine could do it. She knew that she could. She just had to keep denying it, sticking her ground, and her teacher would _have_ to let it drop. But she could feel the Gryffindor honesty creeping up in her followed by an immense amount of guilt.

A few seconds later she said, "But he threw corn in my hair!"

Josephine got detention for two weeks and she had to write an apology to Mickey Fisher. When she got home she felt awful and soon heard her mother calling her.

"Josephine, could come upstairs, please?"

Now she was scared. Her mother only called her by her first name when she was in trouble. Hesitantly, she went up the stairs slowly and found her mother in her bedroom. She had her hands on her hips and her "serious" face on.

"I got a call from your school today."

"Yes..?"

"And your principal told me that you put cinnamon in a boy's lunch today and now he has hives. So, what have you to say for yourself?"

"But mum, your advice didn't work!" Josephine defended herself. "Mickey Fisher threw corn on me yesterday! I had to do _something_."

"Where on earth would you get the idea to intentionally give the boy hives?!" Hermione shouted, and then as if on cue, Draco walked into the bedroom with a smile on his face.

"Liz, how did it go today?" He asked without realizing the look on Josephine's face and seeing that Hermione was standing in the room.

"_You_," She accused. "You told our daughter to put cinnamon in a child's food, knowing that he was allergic to it, just so he could stop picking on her?!"

"He was itching like mad, wasn't he?" Draco addressed Josephine and ignoring his wife's state of shock and anger.

"Endlessly," She replied, and Hermione stood in the middle of the two in utter disbelief.

"I don't believe this. The kid could've died!"

"Oh come on, Hermione, you're exaggerating. You can't die from hives. At least I don't think so." He added in as an afterthought and then began to laugh.

Josephine wanted to laugh too. One of things she loved about her father was his nature to laugh at anything; especially when it was a serious situation like when her mother was two steps away from killing him.

"Liz, you're grounded. And you," Hermione said to Draco. "Should be ashamed of yourself for trying to turn her into another you… Obviously you've forgotten how horrible you were during school and the years after."

"And yet you married me and I'm still horrible." Draco grinned. "Looks like somebody here should set their priorities in order."

Josephine kept in her smile. The whole situation was hilarious, not because her father had outsmarted her mother, but because she could see that her dear ole mum was blushing furiously and that she had no rebuttal. Her parents left her room after that and Josephine had a good last two months at school because Mickey Fisher stopped bothering her. Looked like her father had won that one, and the score between her parents had evened out forty-three to forty-three.

In June, Josephine turned eleven and with the truckload of birthday presents was her Hogwarts letter. Two months later she was boarding the Hogwarts express. As she waved goodbye to her parents, Josephine knew she was going to miss home. When she talked to James, Uncle Harry's son, and who had been at Hogwarts the longest so far, she had asked him what he missed most when he went back to Hogwarts. He mentioned the mundane things. "My bed and mum's cooking. _Definitely_ mum's cooking…" But unlike him, Josephine was going to miss her parents. They were both different and they were weird. They were both on opposite ends of the road and it gave her a good laugh from time to time. Sure they fought a lot, but that was how her parents loved each other. What Josephine thanked them for most was how she was being raised.

There were confusing times, most definitely, but when Josephine Elizabeth Malfoy grew up into an adult and looked back on her childhood, she realized that it was okay. She had the Gryffindor bravery and the Slytherin cunning. Everything else was an even mix and Josephine wasn't more proud of anything else.


End file.
